GODAR: a new discrete element sea ice model

Sea ice is a highly heterogeneous, granular material whose mechanical behavior arises from interactions among individual floes. This granular nature makes discrete element methods (DEMs) a natural choice for modeling sea ice dynamics. In principle, DEMs can resolve discontinuities, such as fractures and leads, and directly capture deformation, ridging, and dilatation processes without relying on parameterizations. However, several challenges (e.g., contact detection, floe geometry, open water treatment) limit their applicability to large-scale simulations. For these reasons, computational efficiency, and historical precedent, continuum models have long been the community’s choice for simulating sea ice at larger scales, even though they face their own challenges. Although running high-resolution (